I’m not much of a fisherman (whale watching is more my style!). I don’t mind catching them as long as someone else puts on the worm and takes off the fish!
Well, in Luke 5:1-11 Luke’s fish story involves lots of fish. It happens on the Sea of Galilee. That beautiful body of water that’s still full of fish today.
It’s really a fresh-water lake, 13 miles long and eight miles wide. Because it’s 680 feet below sea level, it almost has a tropical climate. Today, the area around the sea is lightly populated, but in Jesus’ day, there were nine towns clustered around the Sea, all with more than 15,000 inhabitants. You didn’t have to walk very far to go from one town to the other.
Well, as Jesus was walking around the Sea of Galilee, he noticed two boats down by the shore, one owned by Simon Peter. Jesus asked if he could use his boat as a speaker’s platform where he could teach the crowds of people who had gathered to hear him. Verse four tells us that when Jesus finished teaching and gave the benediction, he said to Peter, “Let’s go fishing.”
Look at verse five. Peter protests, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing!” What he really wants to say is, “Look, Jesus, everybody knows that night-time is the best time for fishing. The morning is a terrible time. The sun’s rays spook the fish. Besides, we just finished cleaning the nets and we’re exhausted!”
Peter implies that while Jesus knows a lot about preaching, he, Peter, is the expert on fishing. Peter was really saying, “Master, I don’t believe there’s a fish within a half-mile of here, but if you say, ‘go fishing,’ I’m on my way.”
Verses six and seven tell us what happened. The results were astounding. So many fish were in the nets that another boat had to be called out to help gather them all in. (This is one of the great fish stories of all time, and it really happened, which is more than I can say for many fish stories I’ve heard.)
Well, in verse eight, Peter falls to his knees before Jesus and addresses him with a different title. No longer does he call Jesus “Master.” Now Jesus is “Lord.”
In verse 10, Jesus says in effect, “Get on your feet, Peter. I’ve got much bigger plans for you than catching fish. From now on you’re going to be working for God, fishing for people.”
Peter and his friends sense how great and capable Jesus is. They turn over their fishing business to friends and relatives, and “left everything and followed him.”
We can find three life-lessons here.
The first is this: God Calls us into deep water. By deep water, I mean areas outside our comfort zones, places where there’s some risk, activities that aren’t easy. Kind of like going through a transition period in a church!
Bill Hybels, the senior minister of Willow Creek Church near Chicago, is one of the most capable leaders in America. He heard God’s call when he was about twenty years old. He was a college student on staff in a summer camp. His father was a prosperous owner of a business that Bill could inherit. But one day the camp director pulled Bill off to the side and asked a loaded question: “Bill, what are you doing with your life that will last forever?” That question shook Bill Hybels to his very foundations. He’s been trying to answer it ever since.
Here is the second life-lesson: Don’t give God instructions; just report for duty.
Who was it that said, “90 percent of success is just showing up?” (Woody Allen) It’s important for us to realize that “still small voice” inside of us many times is speaking from our God-self. “Oh, I don’t want to get out of bed and go to church this morning!” “I don’t want to make that phone call or go and visit that person who’s not feeling well.”
When God gives you a clear indication of what God’s will is for you, it pays to be obedient. When your “want-to’s” don’t agree with God’s directions, go with God.
The third life-lesson is: God doesn’t call the qualified; God qualifies the called.
If God sends you somewhere, God will equip you.
God sent Moses to demand freedom for the Hebrew people from an Egyptian Pharaoh. But Moses said, “O God, I’ve never been eloquent. I-I-I s-s-s-stutter.” With remarkable patience God replied, “Who gave you your mouth? Was it not me? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:10-12)
God calls some of the most unlikely characters. The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you. When God sends you orders, you can be sure that resources are on the way.
God doesn’t want any us to live in a rut. God is forever nudging us out of our comfort zones. Excitement in our faith walk is seldom felt on the safe shores where the living is easy, but out there in deep water where life is risky and faith is required. (It’s a good place to be dependent on God.)
Remember how I shared a couple weeks ago, when I was living in Brussels, Belgium working at a Seminary there, I said, “If I ever wrote a book, it will be called The Life of Faith is a Life of Adventure.”
So it is when you and I offer ourselves to God in faithful obedience. Life can be an adventure and it’s just “plain incredible” what God can do – and wants to – and will do through us as we keep our eyes focused on the loving power of God.
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.
